A lot of - Mexico

The Condescend Books Blog

So, it's official, I'm homeward bound. I've been slowly plying my way north through Mexico and it only seems logical that I should keep on going until I cross the boarder into sunny Son Diago, where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like... It's been over 8 1/2 months and it just seems to be 'that time.' I don't seem to get as excited about seeing new places, meeting new people, and doing new things as I was a few months ago. Plus, I'm running out of money and that also plays a fairly big role in my decision.

So I've picked up the pace, only stopping a day or two in one place, getting a feel for it and then striking out for my next northern way point. And, in doing so, I'm covering a lot more ground than I can fit into one tidy, weekly blog. So consider this to be the Reader's Digest condensed books version...


OAXACA

After escaping Puerto unscathed, I found myself in Oaxaca city, the capital of the state by the same name. It's a bit of a political hotbed at the moment, with lots of shootouts between police and gorillas. But, the heavily touristed areas are still safe because no one is stupid enough to scare off the money... uh I mean vacationers (no, I mean money).

The city itself is actually quiet nice. Set in the sweeping foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range, it was once the capital of the Zapotec empire (a rival to the Aztecs to the north), and today is a prosperous city with a leafy zocalo, colonial monuments, ancient ruins, and great markets. I decided the devote most of my time to shopping. I needed new clothes, after 8+ months on the road, I was beginning to look like a vagrant and I wouldn't be surprised if the boarder patrol denied me entry back in to the states with my current rags.

MEXICO CITY

After my shopping spree, I took a deep breath and headed for the capital, de Jefe. With all the stories about violence, gangs, and taxi cab drivers that rob you, I was not really looking forward to spending time in the world's third largest city. It seemed too large, too intimidating, even for a seasoned traveler like myself. I couldn't have been more wrong.

De Jefe is an great city. The downtown area is amazing, with centuries old cathedrals, palaces, and homes it has an archaic air. The rest of the city is well thought out with large promenades littered with rotunda monuments and breeze side walks. A brilliant metro (only 2 pesos per ride) that takes you virtually everywhere you'd want to go, to parks, lakes, museums, ext. Mix that with a lively, work hard/play hard metropolitan populous and you have one of the better capitals I've visited in the world.

I took a bus tour, which I usually am not apt to do but seemed a good way to see the city and it dropped you at all the major cites. But it was a Monday, and all city services (museums, galleries...) were closed so the most exciting thing on the tour was watching a van catch on fire as it drove beside us. Come to think of it, that still would have been the most exciting thing anyway.

I found out that Aviva, one of my friends from high school/college, was living in the city and hooked up with her. I had a very elegant lunch at her grandparents very elegant house (they were pretty well to do) and then was whisked away to celebrate a friend´s birthday at a club in one of the hot spots in the city. A great night, free bottles of booze, a big dance floor, the same bad Latin music that I now know every word to, and, of course, late night tacos (ok, and hot dogs)!

Guanajuato

I Would have loved to have stayed a few more days in de Jefe, but there was still a lot of Mexico left to see, and a lot of ground left to cover. Next stop was the lively city of Guanajuato. Perched in the higher elevations of the Sierra Madre, Guanajuato is built into a mountain side. This marvel of architecture consists of a tunneled maze of streets and highways sunk below a colorful assortment of colorful houses above. Built almost on top of one another, these homes ascend up the mountain side like stadium seating in movie theater and are connected by small cobblestoned alleyways that can, if your not aware of your surroundings, get you hopelessly lost for hours on end. You wouldn't mind though, as these dizzying walkway, reminiscent of those in Florence, Italy, can lead you to secluded parks, hidden cafes, and to great vistas overlooking the city.

It's a thriving city that is also home to one of the biggest colleges in Mexico, Guanejauto University. As is the case with most towns that host 20,000 plus co-eds, it is a lively place with no shortage of watering holes and dance-all-night discotheques. But it also holds some historical significance in that it was the birthplace of the Mexican Revolution and where Hildago and his rebels won there first decisive victory over the Spanish in 1810.

It is also home to the Museo de Mumias (that's right, the museum of mommies). The city cemetery is very small and if you couldn't afford the maintenance fees, your beloved family members were scooped up out of their graves to make way for the more affluent dead. They started doing this in the late 1800s and realized that, due to the dry air, and and mineral content of the soil in this area, the bodies they exhumed were not skeletons, but perfectly preserved mummies. Then, they logically concluded that the best thing to do with them is put them on display in a museum.

It's actually a fascinating place, with over 100 corpses on display, including: the smallest mummy in the world (a 6 month of fetus) and the best preserved mummy in the world (with no holes or blemishes to the skin). I must admit, it is a bit creepy to be walking through a room surrounded by dead bodies behind a thin sheet of glass that look like they belong in a ¨The Night of the Living Dead¨movie. I always held my breath if I had to passed close by one just waiting for a bonny finger to tap me on the shoulder.

This was another town I could have seen myself getting lost in for a few days, but, for the first time in about 8 months, I´m on a deadline and days of wasted idle hours have come and gone. Now it's a race against time (in this case, time is my bank account) to get as much as I can in before I cross back onto Red, White, and Blue soil.